1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image pickup apparatus and is directed to improvements in an image pickup apparatus by which an image pickup signal is generated in response to a subject image obtained through an optical system facing toward a subject and then a video signal is produced on the basis of the image pickup signal and which has, as occasion demands, a picture displaying portion for displaying pictures represented by the video signal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an image pickup apparatus which produces a video signal, such as a color video signal, on the basis of an image pickup signal generated to correspond to a subject and is commonly called a video camera, an image pickup signal generator which is accompanied with an optical system and in operative to generate an image pickup signal in response to a subject image obtained through the optical system is usually fixed on a body. When such an image pickup apparatus is put to practical use, the image pickup apparatus is set to take up a certain posture by a user or a supporting stand. For example, provided that an image pickup scope is defined by a rectangular image pickup frame, the image pickup apparatus is caused to take up a normal posture by which each of a pair of parallel longer sides of the rectangular image pickup frame is arranged to lie in the horizontal or vertical direction.
The reason why the image pickup apparatus is so postured that each of the parallel longer sides of the rectangular image pickup frame lies in the horizontal or vertical direction on the occasion of practical use is that the image pickup apparatus in a condition of the normal posture is able to be held very easily and stably by the user or the supporting stand. That is, on the occasion of practical use, the image pickup apparatus is supported by the user or the supporting stand in such a manner that an optical system provided on the front side of the image pickup apparatus faces toward a subject and the user looks in at a viewfinder provided on the rear side of the image pickup apparatus from behind, and in such a case, the image pickup apparatus so postured that each of the parallel longer sides of the rectangular image pickup frame lies in the horizontal or vertical direction can be most stably held.
When the image pickup apparatus as aforementioned is used for obtaining video signals based on image pickup signals generated to correspond to various kinds of subjects, it is likely that an image pickup operation by which a scene provided behind a subject is cut out slantwise in relation to the subject or an image pickup operation by which an image of a subject, such as a person in a standing posture, is rotated by a predetermined rotational amount in a predetermined rotational direction is desired in order to provide a picture reproduced based on the video signal obtained through that image pickup operation with a certain specific effect. However, in the case where the image pickup apparatus is set to take up the normal posture by which each of the parallel longer sides of the rectangular image pickup frame is arranged to lie in the horizontal or vertical direction as described above, it is impossible for the image pickup apparatus to perform the image pickup operation by which the scene provided behind the subject is cut out slantwise in relation to the subject or the image pickup operation by which the image of the subject is rotated by a predetermined rotational amount in a predetermined rotational direction.
Then, in this connection, it is considered, as shown in FIG. 1B to incline an image pickup apparatus EC in its entirety to a subject OB postured as shown in FIG. 1A so that each of a pair of parallel longer sides of a rectangular image pickup frame provided in the image pickup apparatus EC is inclined. In such a case, the image pickup operation by which a scene provided behind the subject OB is cut out slantwise in relation to the subject OB can be performed, as shown in FIG. 1C.
However, it is very difficult for a user of the image pickup apparatus EC or a supporting stand for supporting the image pickup apparatus EC to hold appropriately and stably the image pickup apparatus EC postured to be inclined as shown in FIG. 1B over a relatively long period.
On the other hand, in the case where the image pickup apparatus EC is put in an inclined posture to a subject, such as shown in FIG. 1B, during an image pickup operation without any desire to provide a picture reproduced based on a video signal obtained from the image pickup apparatus EC with a certain specific effect, the picture reproduced based on the video signal obtained from the image pickup apparatus EC in the inclined posture is undesirably rotated in its posture clockwise or counterclockwise compared with a picture reproduced based on a video signal obtained from the image pickup apparatus EC which is put in an normal posture by which each of the pair of parallel longer sides of the rectangular image pickup frame provided in the image pickup apparatus EC is arranged to lie in the horizontal or vertical direction.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image pickup apparatus for generating an image pickup signal in response to a subject image obtained through an optical system facing toward a subject and then producing a video signal on the basis of the image pickup signal, which avoids the aforementioned disadvantage or problem encountered with the prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup apparatus for generating an image pickup signal in response to a subject image obtained through an optical system facing toward a subject and then producing a video signal on the basis of the image pickup signal, which can perform each of an image pickup operation by which a scene provided behind the subject is cut out slantwise in relation to the subject and an image pickup operation by which the subject image is rotated by predetermined rotational amount in a predetermined rotational direction with a posture which allows the apparatus to be held appropriately and stably by a user or a supporting stand over a relatively long period.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup apparatus for generating an image pickup signal in response to a subject image obtained through an optical system facing toward a subject and then producing a video signal on the basis of the image pickup signal, which can prevent a picture reproduced based on the video signal obtained on the basis of the image pickup signal from being adversely affected by variations in its posture in an image pickup operation.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup apparatus for generating an image pickup signal in response to a subject image obtained through an optical system facing toward a subject and then producing a video signal on the basis of the image pickup signal, which can prevent a picture reproduced based on the video signal obtained on the basis of the image pickup signal from being undesirably rotated in posture clockwise or counterclockwise in response to variations in posture of the apparatus in an image pickup operation.
According to the present invention, there is provided an image pickup apparatus comprising a body on which an optical system is mounted to face toward a subject, an image pickup signal generator provided rotatably in the body for generating an image pickup signal in response to a subject image obtained through the optical system, a rotary driver for causing the image pickup signal generator to rotate in relation to the body on an axis of rotation coincident substantially with an optical axis of the optical system, an image pickup signal processor provided in the body for producing a video signal on the basis of the image pickup signal obtained from the image pickup signal generator, and a posture detector for detecting a posture of the image pickup signal generator in relation to a subject on which the subject image is obtained.
The image pickup apparatus thus constituted according to the present invention may comprise further a video signal compensator provided in the body for compensating the video signal obtained from the image pickup signal processor with a posture signal derived from the posture detector.
Further, the image pickup apparatus thus constituted according to the present invention may comprises also a signal recording portion for recording the video signal obtained from the image pickup signal processor and the posture detection signal derived from the posture detector on a recording medium. The video signal and the posture detection signal recorded on the record medium can be reproduced on occasion.
In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided an image pickup apparatus comprising a body on which an optical system is mounted to face toward a subject, an image pickup signal generator provided in the body for generating an image pickup signal in response to a subject image obtained through the optical system, an image pickup signal processor provided in the body for producing a video signal on the basis of the image pickup signal obtained from the image pickup signal generator, a posture detector for detecting a posture of the image pickup signal generator in relation to a subject on which the subject image is obtained, and a video signal compensator for compensating the video signal obtained from the image pickup signal processor with a posture signal derived from the posture detector.
In accordance with the present invention, there is further provided an image pickup apparatus comprising a video signal producing portion including a body on which an optical system is mounted to face toward a subject, an image pickup signal generator provided in the body for generating an image pickup signal in response to a subject image obtained through the optical system and an image pickup signal processor provided in the body for producing a video signal on the basis of the image pickup signal obtained from the image pickup signal generator, a first posture detector for producing a first posture signal representing a posture of the body constituting the video signal producing portion, a picture displaying portion for displaying the video signal obtained from the video signal producing portion, a second posture detector for producing a second posture signal representing a posture of the picture displaying portion, a video signal compensator for compensating the video signal obtained from the video signal producing portion with the first and second posture signals, and a video signal supplying portion operative to supply the picture displaying portion with a compensated video signal obtained from the video signal compensator.
In the image pickup apparatus constituted in accordance with the present invention as first mentioned above, the image pickup signal generator for generating the image pickup signal in response to the subject image obtained through the optical system is caused to rotate in relation to the body on the axis of rotation coincident substantially with the optical axis of the optical system. Therefore, the image pickup signal generator can be rotated by predetermined rotational amount in relation to the body on the axis of rotation coincident substantially with the optical axis of the optical system either in the clockwise direction or the counterclockwise direction with a posture which allows the apparatus to be held appropriately and stably by a user or a supporting stand.
Then, the video signal produced on the basis of the image pickup signal from the image pickup signal generator which is rotated or not rotated is obtained from the image pickup signal processor and the posture signal corresponding to the posture of the image pickup signal generator in relation to the subject is derived from the posture detector so that the video signal obtained from the image pickup signal processor may be compensated with the posture signal at the video signal compensator to produce a compensated video signal which represents the subject image rotated in response to the rotation of the image pickup signal generator.
Accordingly, with this image pickup apparatus, not only an image pickup operation with, for example, a rectangular image pickup frame, each of a pair of parallel longer sides of which lies in the horizontal or vertical direction, but also each of an image pickup operation by which a scene provided behind the subject is cut out slantwise in relation to the subject and an image pickup operation by which the subject image is rotated by predetermined rotational amount in a predetermined rotational direction can be selectively performed with a posture of the body which allows the apparatus to be held appropriately and stably by a user or a supporting stand for a relatively long time. Besides, a picture corresponding to the subject image rotated in response to the rotation of the image pickup signal generator can be reproduced based on the compensated video signal derived from the video signal compensator.
In the image pickup apparatus constituted in accordance with the present invention as second mentioned above, when the image pickup signal generator provided in the body is changed in its posture, the change in posture of the image pickup signal generator is detected by the posture detector and the posture signal corresponding to the change in posture of the image pickup signal generator is obtained. Then, the video signal obtained from the image pickup signal processor is subjected to compensation with the posture signal at the video signal compensator and a compensated video signal which is not subjected substantially to the influence of the change in posture of the image pickup signal generator is obtained from the video signal compensator as an output video signal. The output video signal thus derived can be supplied to a picture display for reproducing a picture corresponding the subject image.
Accordingly, with this image pickup apparatus, the picture reproduced based on the compensated video signal which is obtained on the basis of the image pickup signal from the image pickup signal generator can be effectively prevented from being adversely affected by variations in posture of the image pickup signal generator in an image pickup operation.
In the image pickup apparatus constituted in accordance with the present invention as third mentioned above, when the video signal representing the subject image is produced by the video signal producing portion and a picture corresponding to the subject image is reproduced based on the video signal by the picture displaying portion, the first posture signal representing the posture of the body constituting the video signal producing portion is obtained from the first posture detector and the second posture signal representing the posture of the picture displaying portion is obtained from the second posture detector. Then, the video signal obtained from the video signal producing portion is compensated with the first and second posture signals at the video signal compensator and the compensated video signal obtained from the video signal compensator is supplied through the video signal supplying portion to the picture displaying portion. Therefore, a picture corresponding to the subject image is reproduced based on the compensated video signal at the picture displaying portion.
With the compensation to the video signal obtained from the video signal producing portion with the first and second posture signals, the subject image represented by the compensated video signal is, for example, rotated, compared with the subject image represented by the video signal obtained from the video signal producing portion, in response to the posture of the body constituting the video signal producing portion represented by the first posture signal and to the posture of the picture displaying portion represented by the second posture signal, so that the picture reproduced based on the compensated video signal at the picture displaying portion is prevented from being undesirably rotated in posture clockwise or counterclockwise in response to variations in posture of each of the body constituting the video signal producing portion and the picture displaying portion in an image pickup operation.
The above, and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.